tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29926261573712282222024-12-19T14:20:05.432+11:00Sovereign Myth“I hate it when they say “grassroots, it has to come from the grass roots”, it makes me feel like I am being trampled on.” A Thai Villager.........................
A blog that is partly an exploration of democrasubjection - the subjection of people to democratic forms of rule.Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-24983762950890255692016-05-23T19:09:00.000+10:002016-05-23T19:09:24.253+10:00The politics of the General Will in Thailand Excerpts from
Cultural policy as general will and social-order protectionism: Thailand’s conservative double movement
Michael K. Connors International Journal of Cultural Policy 2016.
Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10286632.2016.1184656
From cultural enforcer to networker: the Cultural Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-51137828659513814732016-05-23T19:01:00.001+10:002016-05-23T19:01:07.835+10:00In the voice of Locke and Mussolini? ‘new politics’ for Thailand?
From
Thailand-Four elections and a coup
Michael K. Connors Australian Journal of International Affairs Vol. 62, Iss. 4, 2008
In the voice of Locke and Mussolini? ‘new politics’ for Thailand?
On August 26, thousandsSovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-28476145762398862462014-08-26T06:42:00.001+10:002014-08-26T06:46:21.919+10:00
Rival camps on deadly collision course Bangkok Post May 15th, 2014
This is a pre-edited version of the piece that appeared in Bangkok Post May 15th - reposted because Bangkok Post takes material off after 60 days). If the PDRC has now been swept aside, the victory, politically, has been theirs in many ways, with the new military dictatorship bent on "eradication" of the Thaksin network Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-65618368867151689742014-08-09T21:35:00.000+10:002014-08-09T21:38:29.383+10:00Of Rights Lost and Democracy to Come.
Of Rights Lost and Democracy to Come.
In early May of this year the Thai
Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for a single
transfer of office that allowed Thaksin Shinawatra’s former brother in law to
become the nation’s top cop. Since the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin from
office, Yingluck’s dismissal was the third time courts had removed from office Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-30455478495817240792014-06-04T20:53:00.002+10:002017-01-28T15:59:08.014+11:00Letter opposing the coup from academics outside of Thailand<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-18041097894807450642014-06-02T00:30:00.001+10:002014-06-17T16:17:23.175+10:00Coup commentsSome comments (unused) to the media last week reproduced below.
May 27th to media
On use of court martial:
similar announcements on trials in military courts were made in Thailand's most repressive coups d'etat, 1958 and 1976, and these were times of massive repression. There is no doubt that this coup is going for absolute victory. But this is not just about eradicating Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-369660229331057912014-06-01T23:44:00.001+10:002014-06-26T23:27:27.255+10:00 I am law - Thailand's repetitive decisionist moment
I am law - Thailand's repetitive decisionist moment
In early May Thais witnessed a prime minister felled for a single transfer of office (rightly in normal circumstances), and then two weeks later a coup-group, acting as self-anointed national saviors in the decisionist fashion of all coups de'etat, declared themselves as law itself and then Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-82430404671394160692014-05-23T03:15:00.002+10:002014-06-04T20:42:42.604+10:00Comments to media on 20th May on the declaration of martial lawImpact of martial law?
It dampens
expectations of an impending breakdown into chaotic violence but it will
heighten tensions the moment the military is seen to take sides. It has stopped
the People's Democratic Reform Committee from its wandering street protests and
occupations and the impending strike action by supportive state enterprise
unions, but it has also disbanded the Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-50306760361753673742014-05-21T16:14:00.001+10:002014-05-21T16:14:11.765+10:00Chinese language Translation of Bangkok Post article "Real Democratic Voices Need to be Heard" Many thanks to Mr Ng for translating this Bangkok Post article which first appeared 14th of May.
泰国需要听到真正的民主声音不出所料，反政府运动背后的知识份子，人民民主改革委员会宣布，尼瓦探隆不能成为看守首相，而只能是副首相代理看守首相一职。这个有争议性的论点意思是要表明存在一个政治真空，允许建立一个过度时期的政府，也就是所谓的人民议会。这很可能是反达信阵营又一次唱女皇合唱团的歌词：〝嘿，我也会抓到你。又一个被干掉。〞泰国宪法法庭撒除英叻首相职位，被政府的支持者视为是一个阴谋。其实不然。她明知或罔顾调走国家安全理事会的首长，让政府能够将时任的警察总长调任这个职位，然后允许达信的前任小舅子担任这个空置的国家警察总长的职位。星期二国家反贪污委员会就失败的稻米津贴计划而对英叻的失职Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-3597020577902157682014-05-13T14:59:00.000+10:002014-05-13T15:07:59.531+10:00For a new constitutional law
The piece below argues for the continuing mandate of the Pheu Thai care-taker government and for a constituent assembly to be formed that democratically establishes new political rules of the game. The 2007 constitution was a coup-born document and its problems and biases are emerging in ways that make any election under its terms problematic. Some have interpreted Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-35023174921047205842013-03-04T05:35:00.002+11:002013-03-04T13:00:25.733+11:00Understanding Lese Majeste - intent and crimeUnderstanding Lese Majeste in Thailand - intent and crime
One of the most outstanding features of the masterful Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason and Lèse-majesté (London: Routledge, 2011) by David Streckfuss is its unprecedented attempt to lay bare the logic of thinking by those who protect Thainess through the monarchy (or the monarchy through Thainess). Streckfuss's &Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-58152127411112483952012-12-19T16:30:00.001+11:002013-04-19T21:40:56.552+10:0030th Anniversary of the Franklin River Blockade
30th Anniversary of the Franklin River Blockade
30 years ago this month the Franklin River Blockade changed the face of environmental politics. Several thousand people converged in Southwest Tasmania to protest the construction of a hydropower dam in a world heritage indigenous and forest area.
I spent the summer of 1982-1983 involved in the protests. It's over thirty years ago now, but Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-80923002726222455072012-12-09T11:42:00.001+11:002012-12-09T11:46:11.984+11:00A God-King for Our Times or a Fetish Commodified?The Journal of Contemporary Asia has made my extended discussion of the edited collection (Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager eds) Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand (NIAS PRESS) freely available
Below is an excerpt that discusses the valuable contributions made by Jackson and Sarun to understanding the Thai monarchy
A God-King for Our Times or a Fetish Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-72685853302195082132012-09-16T23:58:00.003+10:002014-05-13T15:10:32.371+10:00Comments from 2008/9: blogatry
Blogatry:
As the reality of the one-sided willed pact with royalists in Thailand (Pheu Thai showing its loyalty) becomes undeniable, I thought it was time that Sovereign Myth acted like a blog and self-referenced itself in the manner of "as I said in XXX, as I noted XXX, when I predicted that XXXX". I've not done this before, so please indulge. The emerging commentary (JiSovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-2496139641496554472012-06-22T22:44:00.001+10:002013-11-28T16:00:17.696+11:00Stirring the dust under the feetJust before the Thai July 2011 General election I was asked by Bloomberg: “What are the prospects of a power-sharing arrangement between Thaksin and his opponents?” My response in part was:
“Apart from hardline elements who mistakenly view Thaksin as the nadir of monarchist Thailand, my guess is the economic and political costs of protracted conflict is now weighing heavily on some of the Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-88237877362075814252012-04-23T18:47:00.000+10:002012-04-23T18:51:17.080+10:00Two-timing ChinaOn the politics of two-timing: China, the U.S. and Australia. Hear the clinking of glasses? Hardly. It’s a celebration that must be muted for fear of raising the ire of the Chinese government. Even so, there must have been many a quiet toast to the profound intensification of the Australia-US alliance marked by the arrival this week of US Marines in the Northern Territory, whose rotating ranks Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-6693475893883626472011-09-27T00:02:00.003+10:002011-11-13T23:40:10.843+11:00When the walls come crumbling down: Monarchy and Thai-style DemocracyThe following is the extended introduction to my review of Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand, edited by Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager (2010) published by NIAS Press
Full reference Connors MK (2011) "When the walls come crumbling down: Monarchy and Thai-style Democracy," Journal of Contemporary Asia, 41, 4, pp. 657-673.
___________________________________________
Some Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-85178051750879908342011-09-11T09:39:00.000+10:002011-09-11T09:39:47.036+10:00Thinking about authoritarianism in an ambivalent stateThe full paper with tables, matrix and references may be read here
In the context of a fascinating surge in discussions on the nature of the Thai state at various forums, I reproduce a section of my attempt to think about unpacking the nature of authoritarianism in the ambivalent Thai state. The full paper may be read by clicking the link above. A much shorter version of this paper was Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-30195079422489006162011-07-04T22:03:00.006+10:002012-06-19T08:14:42.949+10:00Questions on Pending Thai Election: BloombergOn 27th June I emailed responses to three questions from Bloomberg News about the pending election.
1. What's at stake for the military/monarchy in this election?
This is the election in which fundamental decisions about Thailand's future will have to be made. I do not mean by that the electoral choices of the Thai people which have long been subverted even before the 2006 coup, but how the Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-38379187399425440572011-04-16T23:19:00.007+10:002011-04-16T23:30:50.124+10:00Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason and Lèse-majesté.The following is a review of David Streckfuss' new book Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason and Lèse-majesté. London: Routledge, 2011.Full Version Available at http://criticalasianstudies.org/issues/vol43/no1/truth-on-trial-in-thailand.html David Streckfuss's Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason and Lese majeste builds on what was already an extraordinarily accomplished PhDSovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-75141453403738594072011-01-08T14:43:00.009+11:002011-05-05T17:55:13.368+10:00Notes Towards an Understanding of Thai liberalism"Notes Towards an Understanding of Thai liberalism" Michael K. Connorsforthcoming in Bangkok, May 2010: Perspectives on a Divided Thailand. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) edited by Mike Montesano, Pavin Chachavalpongpun and Aekapol Chongvilaivan. (parts of this piece have previously appeared in The Age and this blog) It is easy to understand the plausibility of the case Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-36949358502065349222010-06-10T22:55:00.010+10:002010-06-11T06:54:35.362+10:00War on DrugsThe War on Drugs (2003) has often been used to pinpoint the authoritarian nature of the Thaksin era. During 2007, the coup sponsored government ordered an inquiry into the War on Drugs. That inquiry recommended further investigation, but the idea was dropped quietly after Samak and the People's Power Party came to power. My suspicion is that it was not just the Samak government that was happy Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-30574876706544999722010-06-05T13:02:00.005+10:002010-06-05T22:15:44.488+10:00The Rule of Law in Thailand?As legal authoritarianism reaches new heights in Thailand I post a section on law and rights from my paper Ambivalent About Rights: Accidental Killing Machine, Democracy and Coups d'tat, written last year._____________________________________________________If liberal conceptions of rights are to mean anything, they need legal sanction and protection. Thus the ambivalence of legal institutions toSovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-38608183170639976822010-05-30T12:29:00.007+10:002010-05-30T13:23:14.316+10:00Measured Barbarity and ResponsibilityMeasured Barbarity and ResponsibilityThe continued crackdown, arrests, and censorship throughout Thailand indicate that the Democrat Party led coalition government believes it can drive home its advantage from the bloodbath of May. Having taken it so far it is hardly surprising that the government is willing to weather criticism of further human rights abuses, including holding people without Sovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2992626157371228222.post-6504010960183347612010-05-19T00:18:00.014+10:002010-06-02T18:37:49.760+10:00Why Thai Politics is No Longer NormalPosted Below is a longer version of a piece that appears in the The AGE today.For Italian Translation Click Here or for Chinese translation see below. Written for a general audience, I focus on broad trends rather than immediate analysis of what is happening now. As for current events, no one who supports the right of people to protest can support the use of military with armed weapons to end theSovereign Mythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442099403062393094noreply@blogger.com